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User blog:CuteLunaMoon/Chapter 10: Where the lonely ones roam
I have regained much strength so it's time to venture below. Take a deep breath, I scale down the clocktower... To my surprise, there is only a thin layer of water there. Sophia once told me that all hunters were destined to be sent to a nightmarish realm for an endless hunt. And the nightmare realm works differently from the waking world. Leaving behind the ambience of the old fishing hamlet claimed by the sea, I sea a Cathedral Ward bathed in the sunset's gaze and embarked by tiny dots of torches and braziers. The howling of wolves raise in the air, sometimes added by gunfire and scream of folks. When I'm half way down, dreadful cries of a murder of crow break the silence. The birds circle around me. I stop for a moment to inspect the birds, but something tells me that this is definitely not good. A crow descends. It rests on a window pane above my head a few inches. Then it pecks me and lets out a shriek, followed by cries of its kind. Hundreds of crows fly down with frightening snapping pecks and tearing claws. I slam the crow to the wall. Its eyes pop out and its blood splatter the old clocktower's moldy wall. Then I hurriedly unsheath my short sword from the Ludwig's Holy Blade and wrap a Fire Paper around the blade then ignite it. I helplessly swing the flaming sword around in order to ward off the birds of prey but the are many and I cannot maneuver well while climbing. They claw and peck at my open skin. I shield my face with my left hand and blindly swing the sword. Some of the savage birds meet the pointy end and the sharp blades of my sword and fell to the surface, but the others just grow even more aggressive and more violently. One of the crow peck my left ear wickedly and I feel the blood dripping on my shoulder. I swing my sword to the fiendish bird direction but carelessly losing my balance. I fell to the surface and everything turns black... ... ... ... It's a hazy summer day. I, and to my surprise,my twin brother Louis is lazily sitting in the balcony and gazing at the setting sun. He dons a decorated blue navy vest and cheerfully talks about his first voyage. I tell him it can not be true since he was dead. He looks at me with startled, quizzical eyes... Feeling a bang of guilt for the rough sentence, I say a fast apology and cast my eye towards the red horizon and is startled by a ever-shifting strange shape that I saw earlier when I was pulled into the nightmare the first time... Then everything fades... Now I'm in the banquet room, and I see my long lost mother, and my twin brother, too, but he's only a toddler now. "Is... is that you mom?" I ask her gently. She looks at me and smile. She stoops and hugs me. Everytime she smiles, her fine blond hair lightly shakes. It cannot be true. I hug her back and fear that if I ever let her go, I would lose her again. But as I close my eyes, I feel she's slipping away. I try to cling just to one more second but lose my grips in the grey. She disappears, back to the shadow, with all I hold dear... Then I'm at my mother funeral... Louis is standing next to me and crying loudly. Me too. My mother is lying in the casket, beautiful as ever. Many people attend at the countess's funeral. She was loved by everyone, from nobilities to common folks... But when I look out at the balcony, the strange shape takes place where the moon should be, I call out for my brother, but, my voice was replaced by some strange inhuman sound. Long and pale tendrils replace my palm and fingers. Shocked, I turn back and see all those around me are now fish people I met at the hamlet, all talking in the strange inhuman screeches and snarls. Sometimes in the crowd, there are a few Celestial Kin who were deployed by the Choirs in the battle at Cathedral Ward, I walk past the odd crowd and approach my mother coffin, only to be horrified by a strange scaly creature that resembles a large fish, with the face of my mother lying in her place. I run in terror to the outside, which grow darker and darker with every step I take. Things turn to black again and I can't feel my feets anymore. I blink again and see my my father and duchess Izabella- my step mother are walking under the shadow of an apple grove chatting about the interest of their woolen trade . Louis, now a handsome boy, is behind me and help me with my wheel chair. I remember this, after mom passed away, I fell from a mare. He's lamenting about the boredom of mathematics and how he hates our two step sisters. He says he will become a seaman when he grows up. He stops sometimes, only to reads out loud some strange tales in the journeys of some famous captains in his book. The sun is casting down its golden ray over the autumm leaves that stubornly cling to the branches. I fear that if I ever look up, all I see would be the strange shifting shape that would replace the sun. I lean to pillow and reach out to my brother's hand. He's still here, he has not changed into something horrible. He smiles at me and offer showing me a picture of a sea turtle. But, again, the characters in the book is replaced by the trange scriptures and they are shifting... I feel my head grow heavy and my vision's gone black... When I open my eyes, I'm in garden with my family. Louis, now a stalwart and handsome man, bids everyone farewell and hugging me. I remember this, Louis was appointed as a young captain of a royal battle ship. He would fight in the name of the Queen... But also, I remember what would become of him. "Don't go" I try to shout but he can't hear me. "Please, Louis! You will die! Please come back!" I try to make a sound but no word comes from my mouth. I pinch myself but fail the pinching test. It's all a dream. I cry as I watch him open the gate and climb in the waiting chariot. The verdict won't change.... Then I feel cold, so cold I tremble... And everything is black again. I expect another flashback, but nothing happens... The darkness is my only friend and I don't know how long has passed. Then I feel like falling, more like sinking. I sink and sink below. Then, a shape appears, like a spark in the darkness around. Its presence somehow sooth, for its hidden companion is all I have in the dark. Though I can see it, I can not perceive its form correctly. I try to identify its correct shape but fail to make any conclusion. perhaps it represent a symbol of some sort. Then I see Sophia and James, the closest things to parental figures I have had recently. But they, too, fade into the nothingness. Then, there is only me, the glowing symbol, and the sinking feelings... Then my back finally touches something, after like a day has passed. I feel the comfy of the mattress, I sniff and smell the smell of medical alcohol. I open my eyes and I'm at a clinic in Yharnam, where I receive my first blood ministration. Then, again, a wolf figure appears and crawl its way towards me. Suddenly, something sets the beast aflame and it succumb to its wound. Around me, tiny beings , with a ghoulish face closes in. I fear they would harm me but they don't. They gather around the light of the shape that appear in the previous dream, now hanging in mid-air. The strange symbol, for the first time, clearly resembles the characters "H" or "M" and "P" but not completely look alike. Somewhere, a soothing voice breaks the silence with only a word: "Milkweed ". Then, darkness closes in again. "Wake up now, Luna" I tell my self "Try to pry your eyes open. "You can sleep when you're dead" " 'Cause it isn't over yet" " Get it out of your head!" ... ... ... I'm awake from the nightmare, sweating wet, at the foot of the astral clock tower, in a flower garden. Sun's coming up and there's no one else around. I don't know how but there are no visibly damage from the fall, nor from the vicious birds. Looking at my small brass mirror, I'm still me. Still, my head is filled with pain and the thirst for blood make me shudder uncontrollably. I find a nice and safe spot to bandage myself and take the blood. It's lucky that I have drained the blood from the church hunters previously. As the needle sinks in my flesh, the pains are partially gone and there only a tingling euphoria in my mind. Then, it is replace by a violent tendency to quench the blood thirst. I find it's harder to suppress the beast within and it only grow stronger each Blood Vial I take. The flowers are identical to the dried flower the mad Choir had in his garb. In the middle of the garden,stands a giant flower bearing tree with its massive flowers. There are plenty here so, I pluck a handful of them to feed my slugs. There's no one in the garden. Not a single soul. Sometimes I think I see a flickering shadow of someone but there is no one else around but me. I still hear the gunfire echoes from somewhere and the snarls of beast. Just before I assure myself that it was all but a dream, I find about two dozens carasses of the birds which I killed earlier under the clocktower foot. Some are cut in half, some are half-burned. I gather a handful amount of dry leaves and scrap wood and start plucking the vicous birds. I grill three and smoke the rest for later use on a shimering fire. It is not a pleasant meal, but I need to fill my belly. I find a heavy door to the clocktower and one to the research hall but unfortunately, they are all locked. The only way out is to scale the wall to the Cathedral Ward. Just as my feets touch the ground, a blood-drunk hunter, out of nowhere, suddenly charges at me with hit blazing Boom Hammer . He's in his late sixties, with a scar bisecting his face and blazing blood-drunk infected eyes. " I'm not your enemy" I shout but he just resumes his charge as if my words fell on deaf ears. He's fast given his age. His first hammer swing misses me and the hammer's miniature furnace explode violently nearby. I dodge a few more hits but quite clumsily since my head still ache from the uncanny fall earlier. Stil, I'm safe from his blows and quite surprised by my new found agility. Everytime I dodge, I feel like an invisible hand pull to me toward the direction I'm heading to. "Last warning" I cry out while swatting his hammer aside. The blood-crazed hunter angrily ignites the mini furnace again and closes in, aiming a devastating strike. I back step and put my hand on my right eye, lightly squeeze it. The arcane metoeor from my Blacksky Eye hit the old hunter with such force his Boom Hammer breaks in half. He falls to the ground and spits blood. He coughs blood between breath and tries to get back on his feet while pulling out a dagger but it's too late for him. I slam my massive holy blade on his back and cut him in half. Even after cut down from his lower half, the old coot tries to crawl at me, in a zombie-like fashion similar to a Rotted Corpse in Yharnam's sewage. I jump over the would-be deadman and stab his back from above, through his lung, and impale the opponent to the ground. He screams and wails helplessly for a few more seconds before succumbing to his wounds. His words weren't human but more akin to a beast snarls. A hollow, whistling wind blow through rotted stalks and choking weeds. I cast my wary gaze around. There's nothing but jagged rock, ruined houses and a river of blood beneath. Far on the hills, I spot some moving torches within the dry, ragged thickets. They must be other blood-drunk hunters, but thankfully, they are far away from here. I retrive my weapon and tie it to my back then stoop to inspect the corpse but I quickly stand up as I hear the foot steps. From a dried bush, two more blood-drunk hunter appears, perhaps they hear the call of their fallen companion. One hold a Rifle Spear and one dual wielding two Reiterpallaschs . Both have wild glowing eyes. They split and charge at me from two directions at the same time. I pull out the Augur but the hunter with the two Reiterpallasch open fire and I flinch. The spear wielding closes in and swing his weapon at me, but fortunately I step aside just in time and kick him in the hip. Before he can swing again, I unsheath the short sword and drive it to his belly. His comrade slash at me with his rapiers on the back and I feel blood streaming from behind. Before I can react back to the sneak attacker, the hunter with a wounded belly punch me in the face and force me to retreat before I can pull out the short sword from him. He painfully removes the short sword and spits blood from his mouth." Beast! A foul beast" The wounded cries. The two shoot me again but luckily the shots miss. I hide in behind a rock and pull out a dagger. " Come out, you filthy beast. You can't hide forever" I peer from my hiding but have to duck quickly again as a bullet flies through my tricorn hat. I spot of the two are igniting their Molotov Cocktails. As I have dropped the short sword earlier, I unpack the massive sheath of the Ludwig's holy blade from my back. Its weight would only hinder my movement. I stoop a little lower and put my hat on the sheath and lay it against the rock. I keep an eye on the hunters and crawl my way out to another hiding spot nearby and wait in ambush. The blood-drunk close in and as they spot my hat, they throw their firebombs at the makeshift dummy. The rapier dual wielding advances first and was enraged by what he found. From my hiding spot, I lunge at him and stab him in the right eye with my dagger. The assault was swift and sudden, he could barely react to it. Still, he manages to drive one of his rapier into my left shoulder. The pain is unbearable. I punch him and he falls to a thorny bush nearby. I jump on him, pull out another dagger stab him repeatedly in the belly. As the wound is large enough, I tuck my hand in and draw his viscera out. He screams out horribly. His death is inevitable. Still, as he draws his last dying breath, he sinks his teeth into my left arm. He does not losen his jaws though he is dead. Painfully, I have to put some real effort to pry open the deadman jaw. When the other hunter hears the scream from his companion and hold his Rifle Spear defensively. Instead of advancing, the wounded one slowly retreat. I have no intension of following him as I am also badly wounded. I painfully drag the dead out of the bush onto a higher ground and cut open the veins on his neck. I put the empty vial underneath and collect the oozing substance streaming from his throat. The hot blood. It sings to me. While waiting for the vials to be fully filled, I loot the corpses. Not much. A fire striker, some quicksilver bullets, some sun-dried meat, a half-empty waterskin, a broken Boom Hammer , and a pair of Reiterpallasch, one of which is finely crafted and decorated with three red gemstone . Upon close inspection, the gems turn out to be crystalized blood. What sort of man would decorate his weapon with dried blood from his foes? But this isn't an uncommon practice. I heard that the wife of an old hunter, whose name was Gascoigne, wore a big jewel brooch made out of crystalized blood. Perhaps I could find an explanation in Sophia's diary. I have little time to tend my wounds as I spot five Beast Patients coming. The must have been drawn to the carnage by the stench of blood and the sound of the fight. I silently retreat as the beasts ravage the corpses: faces are torn open to reveal the webs of tendon and teeth. As I walk a little farther, I can still hear the beasts' gorging, the cracking of bones and the snarls of the beasts compete for every bits of flesh. I find the least ruined house in a familiar yet strange Central Yharnam . The houses are old and I can't recognise some. They must date back to at least one or two centuries ago, or even further in the past. I open the door to get inside. After a quick scan, I'm quite happy to find the house is abandoned and there's no one else around but me. I walk outside to find a small well, luckily still have the bucket. Reeling a bucket of water, I do a hasty washing and reel another one to bring inside. There isn't much inside as well, a bed, with torn and dirty laundry, a broken table and a half-broken chimney. I don't want to get eaten in a sleep so I barricade the door with a wood plank and connect it with a string to the silver bell I looted from a church hunter earlier, which is hang over the bed. I sit down on the dirty bed, try to make my self as comfortable as I can, light a small make shift torch. After a meager meal with dried kelp, crispy smoked crow bits and a mouthful gulp of home made blood cocktail, I open Sophia's diary. Category:Blog posts